Next, GeekDad James Floyd Kelly made this amazing lightsaber for his son for less than $25 and in less than 25 minutes, if you can believe it:

The design is based on the $33 Lightsaber in 33 minutes over on Instructables, so you'll want to read both posts to see the different modification options. (And in case you're as baffled as I was: the base is a pop-up basin drain, and I think all of the pieces come from the plumbing aisle.) Even though my steampunk lightsaber is already done, this one is making green with envy - so I think I may need to make another one. (Sorry, John, sweetie!)

I'm pretty sure there's no way I could make something quite this cool, but I'm still inspired to try:

Steph M. sent over this gorgeous Wall-E by Kevin Stanton, and the paper cutting nerd in me is beyond delighted. Yep, every line and shape you see is a piece of finely cut paper! Hit the link to see more of Stanton's work on his blog; his illustrated books of Shakespeare are also fabulous.

Morgan Ditta posted this on Twitter, saying, "Because they don't sell them new anymore, I had to make my own:"

Roger Rabbit!! Tell me you didn't just scream and do a happy dance. TELL ME. Just look at those feet! And that tail! If anything will get me to try again with the whole sewing wizardry, it's this. Love it.

Oh, and while I was exploring Morgan's site, I also came across these ear hats she designed:

How cool are these?! It is an absolute CRIME that they aren't being sold in the parks right now. Especially the Jungle Cruise hippo. And Roger. And Maleficent. Please, somebody send these to the higher ups at the Mouse, pronto! (Shockingly, Morgan doesn't work for Disney; she's just a fan. Let's hope that changes soon!)

In addition to all of these, I'm also researching resin supplies, because I have Some Ideas. [devious grin] Stand by while I get everything I need, and here's hoping I have something fun and exciting (or at least terrible and amusing) to show you soon!

16 comments:

Morgan Ditta's hats are WONDERFUL and I attempted to follow your link to her DA portfolio, but I can't find any mention of a user by her or a similar name. :-/ Is the link broken, or has she taken her account down for some reason?

Dear and Fluffy Lord. A plushy Roger Rabbit? Where's my sewing machine? Also going to check out the retro tin robots and the DIY light saber. Hubby's Steampunk Study (a project so foolhardy it has its own blog) needs one in brass and leather.

Thank you for the feature! I should mention that Disney *did* put out Ear-hat ornaments based on Maleficent and Ursula (a little similar to mine but different enough in the details). So at least there's that!

Hi Jen, have you seen http://www.resinobsession.com/ ? I found I never had the patience or follow through to really make anything nice with resin, though I had tons of ideas and bought tons of supplies (which I would be happy to send to you to get out of my storage unit, and MY John would love it too). Rambling, so anyway I liked the site, she has some very interesting molds, and cool supplies at good prices (I particularly liked the glow in the dark powder) - I can't wait to see what you come up with! Pro (ha!) tip, don't do it on your dining room table. Well, don't do anything large on your dining room table. When you try to embed a circuit board and some copper wire into a shadowbox to make a jewelry hanger, and it's your first time working with resin and you don't realize how HOT it gets, well...then you've got a seriously ruined dining table. Also, something else that I didn't read in my homework before I tried it, because obviously you (I) have to be an idiot to not know this, is that resin is supposed to be liquid at first, not viscous. Shake the bottle or container first if you buy it at your local craft store. In two separate stores I was sold super old expired resin that had sat on the shelves long enough to go bad.

If you haven't already you should check out CyberDrone on DeviantART. Their entire gallery is full of paper craft designs including Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Lord of the Rings, and Superheros (just to name a few). I haven't tried to make any of them yet (due to lack of good paper) but they look fairly simple to put together.